Being informed is the first step to being prepared. For decades, corporate counsel and compliance professionals have developed tools, systems and analytical approaches to improve the efficacy and scale of compliance oversight and controls. Technology has allowed companies to integrate compliance concepts and requirements into core business operations like never before. The "compliance by design" revolution has resulted in the growth of data analytics tools, key performance indicators and dashboards to help compliance teams monitor day-to-day business activities for risk and identify potential issues before they arise. These innovations have also resulted in significant cost savings for companies and more precision in targeting risk-based anti-corruption activities. 

In a nod to the increasingly clear value of data analytics, in 2020 the US Department of Justice‘s Criminal Division updated its "Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs" to direct prosecutors to consider how companies collect and analyze data as part of their compliance programs. The US Department of Justice‘s Criminal Division encouraged prosecutors to assess how compliance teams use data analysis techniques to review business data and identify potential compliance concerns. One can expect an increased focus by enforcement authorities on whether and to what extent corporate counsel and compliance professionals are engaged with and deriving data from real-time business operations.

Our survey asked companies to describe the current state of their data analytics programs, and where they are headed.

View full image: How developed is your organization’s use of data analytics for compliance risks? (PDF)

View full image: Data maturity ranking by company size (revenues (US$)) (PDF)

Approximately one in five companies do not currently use data analytics for compliance and ethics 

Few companies (9%) viewed themselves as being advanced in using data analytics for their compliance programs. Most companies (69%) reported having a rudimentary or developing data analytics strategy.
By comparison, approximately one-fifth (21%) of respondents do not currently use data analytics for their compliance programs. 

Adoption of data analytics was lowest among smaller companies, with approximately 30% of companies earning less than US$10 billion in revenues annually not using data analytics for compliance, compared to less than 5% of companies earning more than US$10 billion per year.

View full image: How does your organization currently use data analytics in its compliance program? (PDF)

Among companies using data analytics, there is growing convergence in how they deploy data analytics in compliance programs

Overall, our survey shows that most companies are using data analytics to support core compliance program activities. Over half of respondents reported using data analytics to enhance risk assessments (58%); develop reports, visualizations and/or dashboards (58%); and manage training and certification requirements (55%). 

Notably, the 9% of companies that self-identified as having "advanced" data analytics programs were more likely to use data analytics in areas that relate to management of real-time business risk. For instance, these respondents were almost twice as likely to report using data analytics to perform risk-based transaction monitoring and testing (89%) than the average (47%). They also were more likely to use data analytics to identify third parties for heightened screening and diligence (72%) than the average (48%); and to track and manage compliance requests and approvals (72%) than the average (39%).

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